Celebrated poet Gerald Stern has died.

His partner claims that Stern passed away in New York City at age 97.

Stern was one of America’s most loved and respected poets

He work encompassed youth, Judaism, mortality, and the contemplative life with vibrant sorrow and worldly humour.

Stern published more than a dozen novels, and in 1998 his anthology “This Time” earned him the National Book Award.

Because of his poetic, sensual writing style and talent for fusing the material world with the spiritual, he was occasionally compared to Walt Whitman.

Gerald Stern passed away on Thursday, but the poet’s cause of death was not made public.